As Grand Arms development progresses, we'll be posting introductions to some of our game systems here. Grand Arms is an RPG patterned after the classic Ogre Battle series from SNES and N64. If you've heard of Tactics Ogre (including the fantastic recent release of Tactics Ogre Reborn) you're in the right ballpark, but Tactics Ogre is an offshoot of the original series with fully turn-based gameplay. Ogre Battle, and Grand Arms, feature a mix of real-time and turn-based games that few other games have attempted. Here's how it works.

Units

Like any RPG, as the story progresses, you'll recruit characters to join your party. But unlike most RPGs, these characters don't stand alone. Each leads a unit of up to 5 characters who move and fight together, organized into a specific formation.
During a mission, you'll see your leaders on the map - click on them and you'll see the other characters that make up their unit.

Movement

In this map view, the game plays out much like a real-time strategy game. Click on your units and direct them where to go; they'll move in real time. Each unit has a different base speed depending on the characters that make it up, the terrain they're crossing, etc. You can pause the game at any time to issue orders and consider your strategy. In most missions, the goal is to capture towns and strongholds held by the enemy. To do so you'll inevitably come up against enemy units, who will try to defend their territory. Once two units come into contact, a battle will commence.

Combat

When two units approach each other, you'll see this screen, showing both units' formations. Each character within a unit has a class, which determines how they'll act in combat. Each class has front and/or back row abilities that they'll use depending on how they're positioned. Classes also have resistance to specific types of damage (slashing, piercing, or blunt.) Battles are turn-based but you, the player, don't issue orders to your characters; they fight automatically. Melee classes will attack the closest enemy character in the front row; ranged classes prefer attacking the back row. Characters act in order depending on their Agility stat, and their class determines how many turns they can take in a single encounter.
Clicking into the Battle Preview screen will give more details on how each character will attack. Importantly, you can adjust your formation before battle begins, so by lining up your characters appropriately to take advantage of damage types and resistances, you can turn a bad matchup into a good one.

Objectives

Once an encounter ends, the side with the highest morale - which is lost as characters sustain damage or fall in battle - is the victor, and the losing unit is forced back, losing ground. By defeating enemy units you'll clear the way to liberating the towns and strongholds they defend. You'll move fluidly between these two systems - real-time movement, turn-based encounters - until you defeat enemy units, capture specific objectives, or whatever else a particular mission requires.

Development Update

Currently we're putting the finishing touches on a playable demo which includes an introduction to the world and story of Grand Arms, and the first three missions of the game, finishing with an important plot twist that sets the stage for the rest of the story. Unlike the full game, the demo will also be playable in your browser, without needing to install anything. The demo is now feature complete and we're just wrapping up some of the final art and music. Stay tuned and we'll have more to announce in the coming weeks.